Assembly of First Nations rejects Oppal inquiry

Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Grand Chief Doug Kelly, chairman of the First Nations Health Council, set out the reasons they have decided that Wally Oppal is the wrong person to head the missing women inquiry and why the inquiry itself is inadequate in a piece in the Times Colonist today.

"We must turn these horrific serial murders into a full exploration of how to protect and support women, especially indigenous women," they write.
"We will be left with the most important question - why were the lives of these and so many other indigenous women in Canada not adequately supported, and how could our systems treat them, and others, as something to be thrown away, then put to the bottom of the heap in pursuing their murderers and abusers? Probably because we didn't care enough to make it different.
"We can't let that happen again. Join us in calling for a real inquiry that puts the lives of those victims at the forefront."

This is, I believe, the first time the AFN has presented its position on the inquiry.